SAN ANTONIO – Robots seem to be the way of the future, especially when it comes to warehouse work. And now, a San Antonio company has projects in development to help make that future brighter.
“We don’t make robots, we make the eyes for the robots to be able to work in those environments,” Erik Nieves, Plus One Robotics CEO and co-founder, said.
Here at the Port San Antonio company, it has a new initiative. It’s a program involving Zachary Keeton, a former Northside Independent School District teacher.
Keeton is leading what is called the “Yonder Project”.
“That essentially means that we enable the robots to call for help from a human from anywhere in the world,” Keeton said.
So why would robots need help from humans?
"They just have a memory to do the same thing over and over and over again and that works when you’re going to build cars, but that doesn’t work when you have to move packages and fulfill orders and do that type of thing,” Nieves said.
Via cameras and use of the cloud the robots can call for assistance.
“We have a human help system and they can get that help from a human crew chief, we call it,” Keeton said.
The tech really is impressive, but it’s also practical. Plus One Robotics said this program is important for the future of our country, especially in a COVID-19 aware world.
“These robots don’t need to do social distancing, they don’t need to wear a mask and the economy could continue operating to some extent, definitely more than it has been,” Keeton said.
And from the sounds of it, this could be the future of warehouse, e-commerce and manufacturing work that flows around the world.
"San Antonio is really ushering in a new era of remote work and remote labor. I’m really proud that it’s starting here in San Antonio,” Keeton said.